The automotive bonus will take into account the "carbon footprint" to "support" what is produced in Europe, announces Macron

In the automotive sector, where China is by far the leading producer of electric vehicles in the world but relies for this on energy production still largely based on coal, it is a question of supporting "the batteries and vehicles that are produced in Europe because their carbon footprint is good", he explained, presenting at the Elysée Palace his strategy to "accelerate" the "reindustrialization" of the country.

"This does not mean that we are doing protectionism but we do not want to use French taxpayers' money to accelerate non-European industrialization", he added, calling for "not to repeat mistakes". committed with the photovoltaic industry, dominated by the Chinese.

The criteria for awarding this reformed ecological bonus will be defined "by the end of the year", according to the Head of State.

It will also be a question of taking into account the integration of recycled or biosourced materials in the production of vehicles, according to the Ministry of the Economy.

"Builders will therefore have to justify that they meet these ecological criteria required to be able to benefit from the ecological bonus", according to him.

Bercy says it has developed a model to assess the carbon footprint of building a vehicle, "from the battery to the construction of the engine".

The ecological bonus constitutes financial assistance granted to any purchaser or lessee (holder of a rental contract for a period greater than or equal to two years) of an electric or hydrogen vehicle or a combination of the two. The purchase cost must be less than 47.000 euros.

The State devotes one billion euros to it.

Emmanuel Macron also said that public orders would take into account environmental criteria "for key decarbonization products" such as wind turbines and heat pumps from July 2024 instead of 2026.

“We will favor responsible public procurement, particularly in the most critical markets, solar, wind, heat pumps and others,” he said. “We are going to stop financing non-Europeans with our public contracts and therefore that, we will do it from July 2024.”